Four phones. Wait, maybe five phones. There are going to be a lot of phones.

Here's what the in-screen fingerprint reader on the OnePlus 6T looks like.

Ron Amadeo

Both the iris scanner and the rear fingerprint reader are going away with the S10 release. Instead, biometrics will be handled by Qualcomm's new in-screen, ultrasonic fingerprint reader. Just like on the OnePlus 6T, this will be a finger-sized fingerprint area on the front of the display, located toward the bottom of the phone for easy one-handed use.

According to various reports, Samsung has been attempting to integrate an in-screen fingerprint reader into a device going all the way back to the Galaxy S8. Every year, the company has dumped in-screen fingerprint plans at some point in each device's development, and the resulting capacitive fingerprint reader that was slapped onto the back of the device has always felt like an afterthought. The fingerprint location on the OnePlus 6T feels great, and the Galaxy S10 should have a similar ergonomics boost.

The OnePlus 6T has an optical in-screen fingerprint reader, though, and by all accounts, the Qualcomm-built ultrasonic reader should be an improvement. An optical fingerprint reader is, well, optical, and it works by placing a CMOS chip (a camera) under the display, lighting your finger, and taking a picture. This, of course, is a 2D image that could theoretically be spoofed with an image of your fingerprint. Qualcomm's ultrasonic fingerprint reader takes a 3D image of your fingerprint, and should be much more secure. The real question will be how fast it will be. Prototype Qualcomm devices from 2017 were pretty slow, and speed is something of an issue in OnePlus's optical fingerprint reader. Hopefully Qualcomm's consumer-ready version will be able to match the snappiness of a capacitive fingerprint reader.

With the fingerprint reader being relocated, the only thing on the back will be a large strip for the cameras and Samsung's typical PPG heart-rate sensor. Both the S10 and S10+ will have three rear cameras, expected to be a main camera, a telephoto lens, and a wide-angle lens.

Other expected specs for the S10 include a baseline of 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, an 8GB RAM/512GB storage version, and a monster 12GB RAM/1TB of storage version of the S10 Plus. Samsung has already announced the 1TB chip that will be in this version. The phones still have a speaker and a USB Type-C port on the bottom, and the S10 will be one of the only 2019 flagships that still has a headphone jack. There is also still a Bixby button on the side.

Wireless charging will return, and new in this version is expected to be "reverse wireless charging." This means the S10 could actually send power to something instead of just receiving it. Reverse wireless charging looks like it will involve flipping the phone face down on a table, never touching it, and balancing something else (like another phone or Samsung's upcoming wireless earbuds) on the back. This sounds terrible and has been terrible on previous devices that have attempted it. Wireless charging isn't fast or efficient, so it loses much of its appeal when the power you are wasting is your precious phone battery and when you can't check your notifications, because your phone is stuck charging something else.

The Galaxy S10e—A cheaper S10!

The Galaxy S10E. It's smaller, and there are only (only?) two rear cameras.

In addition to the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus, Samsung is expected to introduce a new device to the S line, the S10e. This is a cheaper version of the S10, which apparently is meant to buck the trend of ever-increasing smartphone prices. To put it another way: say hello to the Samsung Galaxy XR!

"Cheaper" for the S10 line means a smaller device with a smaller screen and smaller battery, thicker bezels, fewer cameras, and a cheaper fingerprint reader. The display is down to 5.8-inches (the same size as a Galaxy S9), while that MySmartPrice report from earlier puts the body at 142.5 x 70.5 x 8.1mm—1.1mm thinner than the smaller Galaxy S10, and a whopping 7.4mm shorter. If this report is accurate, the S10e must have a different aspect ratio than the 19:9 display of the other S10s. The display is also supposedly totally flat, unlike the subtle curve along the long edge of the display that is typically present on Samsung phones.

Like the S10, you only get one camera on the front, while on the back, you're going to have to survive with a measly two cameras. The heart-rate sensor has also been cut.

The fingerprint reader is a big change, too. The fancy in-screen fingerprint reader is gone, and rather than the obvious return to a rear fingerprint reader, the S10e is expected to have a side fingerprint reader. Some leaks describe this as a "swipe" sensor, meaning you would have to roll your finger across it like you did back in the dark ages of smartphone fingerprint readers. I have a hard time believing that given that other smartphones have a single-tap side mounted fingerprint sensor.

The rest of the S10 package is more or less intact. You'll still get a Snapdragon 855 in the US and the baseline 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage config. There are still a USB-C port and a headphone jack, so overall, this sounds like a very capable device.

The S10e is a cheaper S10, but the question of how cheap is still up in the air. The S9 started at $720, while the S9+ was $840. Will Samsung raise prices of the S10 and S10+ and slot the S10e in the ~$700 price range?

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Ron Amadeo
Ron is the Reviews Editor at Ars Technica, where he specializes in Android OS and Google products. He is always on the hunt for a new gadget and loves to rip things apart to see how they work. Emailron@arstechnica.com//Twitter@RonAmadeo